Gordon Ramsay, recently accused of fraud in the U.K., comes in for a more generalized form of the charge in a Slate article today. Though pegged as a review of the foul-mouthed chef’s latest cookbook, Gordon Ramsay’s Fast Food, the article vivisects the whole genre of aspirational quick-cooking books — their impossibility, their ludicrous requirements (whole quails, perfectly sliced onions, etc.), and, especially, the disingenuousness of celebrity-chef types like Ramsay pretending that they putter around in the kitchen cooking for their families.

Molecular gastronomy has never quite caught on here in the U.S.; apart from a handful of superstars in Chicago and New York, most Americans only know about it from failed Top Chef contestants. But even in Spain, where it originated, the movement is no longer the hot thing it once was. Or is it? Lisa Abend’s essay in Slate makes the case for MG having jumped the shark, but the lazy arguments — reporters are tired of writing about it, its methods are now too well known — are actually red herring. Abend’s point is that modern Spanish food, as she calls it, isn’t going anywhere, any more than nouvelle cuisine disappeared when its most laughable extremes were widely mocked. “What lies at its heart is not a particular dish — not even the emblematic foam. Rather, it's a spirit — a vigorous, often intellectual search for new flavors that takes place not just in gardens and pantries but in landscapes and art exhibitions and, yes, in the laboratory.” That, we think, is the heart of the dispute. The MG crowd believes in new flavors. Traditional cooks don’t. For our part, we’ll admit that there are new flavors. It’s just that we like the old ones better.

Fish Foam and Spherified Mango Juice [Slate]
Related: Molecular Gastronomy Made Complicated via PowerPoint

There’s a nice tribute to the late Jean-Claude Vrinat, the owner of Taillevent in Paris, over at Slate. Taillevent could loosely be called the Le Cirque of Paris, if Le Cirque had never moved and if the food had been utterly impeccable (if a little boring) for its entire existence. Though cited and even revered by the food world, restaurants like Taillevent seem to be fading into history — which is in itself a good reason to read the piece.

Remembering Jean-Claude Vrinat [Slate]